MADPET is for the Abolition of Death Penalty, an end of torture and abuse of rights by the police, an end to death in custody, an end to police shoot to kill incidents, for greater safeguards to ensure a fair trial, for a right to one phone call and immediate access to a lawyer upon arrest, for the repeal of all laws that allow for detention without trial and an immediate release of all those who are under such draconian laws.

Country Details

503. As many as 300 individuals were held under sentence of death as of January 2008. [4] In 2008, there were at least 22 death sentences and was at least one execution. [5] In 2009, there were at least 68 death sentences and an unknown number of executions. [6] In 2010 there were 114 death sentences and was at least one execution. [7]

Annual Number of Reported Executions

2010

Amnesty's 2010 report might indicate a belief that executions occurred in Malaysia. [8] We found no verification of any executions from organizations that pay close attention to these matters. [9]

2009

There have been no reported executions in Malaysia during 2009. However, Amnesty International’s annual report indicates there were executions in 2009. [10]

There were no reported executions, but executions may have taken place. [12]

Year of Last Known Execution

2008 [13] Amnesty International reports that there was at least one execution in 2010, but it is possible that this should be interpreted as a statement on Amnesty's part that, due to non-transparency, it is unclear that there were no executions. [14] Unlike the "reported" execution in 2010, we were able to obtain independent verification of the execution in 2008. [15]

Crimes and Offenders Punishable By Death

Every participant in dacoity, a gang robbery involving at least five offenders, is death-eligible if one of the participants commits murder during the robbery. [2]Bearing false witness, resulting in an innocent victim’s conviction and execution, is punishable by death if the witness knows the victim may be convicted of a capital crime as a result. [3]Assisted suicide of a child or insane person is punishable by death. [4] Such suicide is reasonably categorized as murder, because children and insane persons cannot consent to commit suicide. Additionally, rape resulting in the victim’s death is a capital offense similar to simple murder, although it may be punished more leniently than simple murder. [5]

Terrorism-Related Offenses Not Resulting in Death.

Unlawful possession of firearms or explosives in a designated security area, or supplying, receiving, or preparing to supply or receive firearms in a designated security area, or consorting with individuals who perform such acts, is punishable by death. [6] Malaysia has amended its penal code to address and further define terrorist acts [7] ; however, terrorist suspects are typically dealt with under the Internal Security Act and are simply detained without trial. [8]

Robbery Not Resulting in Death.

If a firearm is charged during robbery or extortion in an attempt to murder or cause harm, each of the offenders participating in the robbery or extortion is punishable by death. [9]

Kidnapping Not Resulting in Death.

If murder is intended [10] or if the abducted person is held for ransom [11] , kidnapping is punishable by death. Kidnapping is also a capital crime if any of the kidnappers, during the offense, discharges a firearm in an attempt to murder or cause harm. [12]

Unlawful possession of firearms or explosives in a designated security area, or supplying, receiving, or preparing to supply or receive firearms of a certain amount in a designated security area, is punished by death. [22] Malaysia has amended its penal code to address and further define terrorist acts [23] ; however, terrorist suspects are typically dealt with under the Internal Security Act and are detained without trial. [24]

Robbery Not Resulting in Death.

If a firearm is charged in an attempt to murder or cause harm during a robbery or as part of extortion, the offender discharging the firearm is punished by death. Other participants must be punished by death if they cannot prove they took all reasonable measures to prevent the discharge. [25]

Kidnapping Not Resulting in Death.

A kidnapper who discharges a firearm during kidnapping in an attempt to murder or cause harm must be punished by death. Other participants must be punished by death if they cannot prove they took all reasonable measures to prevent the discharge. [26]

Burglary Not Resulting in Death.

An offender who discharges a firearm in an attempt to murder or cause harm during a house-break or house-trespass must be punished by death. Other participants must be punished by death if they cannot prove they took all reasonable measures to prevent the discharge. [27]

Offenses against the person of any Malaysian federal or federated head of state are punished by death. [29]

Other Offenses.

An offender who discharges a firearm in an attempt to murder or cause harm while resisting arrest or escaping lawful custody is death-eligible. Other participants must be punished by death if they cannot prove they took all reasonable measures to prevent the discharge. [30]

Crimes For Which Individuals Have Been Executed Since January 2008:

Other Offenses Resulting in Death.

According to human rights organizations and other reporting, on December 19, 2008, a bus driver was hanged at Kajang prison for raping and murdering a computer engineer. [31]

According to various human rights and news sources, drug trafficking crimes may compose the majority of death sentences in Malaysia, with murder generally making up the difference. [32]

Categories of Offenders Excluded From the Death Penalty:

Individuals Below Age 18 At Time of Crime.

Children under the age of ten cannot be prosecuted for a crime in Malaysia. [33] In 1995, Malaysia acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child with certain reservations, and by 2001 legislatively confirmed that persons committing an offense while under the age of 18 cannot be executed. [34]

Pregnant Women.

The maximum sentence for a woman pregnant at the time of sentencing is 20 years imprisonment. [35]

Mentally Ill.

Individuals of "unsound mind" who could not appreciate the nature of their actions, as well as those who were involuntarily intoxicated or intoxicated to the point of insanity, may not be found criminally liable. [36]

[3] Status, Declarations, and Reservations, Second Optional Prot. to the ICCPR, Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty, 1642 U.N.T.S. 414, Dec. 15, 1989, http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-12&chapter=4?=en, last accessed Jun. 10, 2010.

[4] Hands Off Cain, Co-sponsor of Resolution on a Moratorium on the Death Penalty, http://www.handsoffcain.info/chisiamo/index.php?iddocumento=13317886, last accessed Mar. 29, 2011. By March 29, 2011, official U.N. minutes were not yet available.

Death Penalty In Law

Does the country’s constitution make reference to capital punishment?

Yes. Article 5(1) implies a death penalty by stating that no person may be deprived of life save “in accordance with law.” Article 119(3)(b) implies a death penalty by disqualifying a person from the electorate while under sentence of death. [1]

Does the country’s constitution make reference to international law?

Yes. Malaysia is a federation of states, and Parliament’s (the federal legislative body’s) ability to make law regarding some areas is restricted except when pursuant to a treaty or decision of an international organization of which Malaysia is a member. [2] Decisions of international bodies accepted by the United Kingdom on Malaysia’s behalf prior to independence continue to be binding international law in Malaysia. [3] These provisions concerning international law are subject to interpretation, but may make some international law applicable in Malaysia.

Have there been any significant changes in the application of the death penalty over the last several years?

Yes. Malaysia recently made rape resulting in death a capital crime. [4] While Malaysia continues to sentence significant numbers of people to death, the number of actual executions in Malaysia has dropped significantly. [5] However, the majority of death sentences are now for drug trafficking offenses rather than inherently violent crimes such as murder. [6]

Is there currently an official moratorium on executions within the country?

No. Persons were executed in 2008, sentenced to death in 2008, and Malaysia continues protest resolutions for a U.N. moratorium on the death penalty. [7]

Have there been any significant published cases concerning the death penalty in national courts?

In a web database search (http://www.commonlii.org/my/cases/MYCA/) of appeals court decisions in Malaysia, no cases significantly altering capital punishment practices were found, although some cases may elucidate practice in Malaysia. In the majority of published murder cases, the Court of Appeal upholds the sentences of the High Court. However, the Court of Appeal has overturned cases for insufficiency of evidence and for abusive police practices in obtaining confessions or self-incrimination. [8]

In drug trafficking cases, the Court of Appeal appears to restrict a finding of drug trafficking to cases where there is absolute, corroborated proof of the actual event of a drug transaction. [9] However, these cases also reveal that Malaysian courts accept application of the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking following a police-initiated sting transaction. [10]

Other cases may suggest that the Court of Appeal finds ways to avoid the mandatory death penalty in some cases. The Court acquitted two men who killed in response, allegedly, to a business partner’s repeated sexual assaults on one of the men’s wife. However, such cases, as well as a case where “jealousy” as “insanity” precluded criminal liability for a husband’s brutal murder of his wife, could also be interpreted as a permissive attitude towards some honor killings. [11]

Where can one locate or access judicial decisions regarding the death penalty?

Malaysia’s official court website offers some selected decisions, and may eventually offer death penalty-related opinions: http://portal.kehakiman.gov.my/. The Malaysian Attorney General maintains a website with the status of ongoing cases, appeals, and recent decisions: http://www.agc.gov.my/agc/index.php?lang=en. A subscription site, http://www.cljlaw.com/, offers court opinions from Malaysia, but without subscribing it is unclear what content the site can offer. A free site, http://www.commonlii.org/my/cases/MYCA/, has some rulings on the death penalty, including recent appeals court decisions, by Malaysian courts (for example, see http://www.commonlii.org/my/cases/MYCA/2006/42.html).

A capital defendant appeals from the High Court to the Court of Appeal. After the Court of Appeal determines whether the appeal may be made, the judge who passed the sentence of death files a report on the case with the Federal Court, which determines the ultimate outcome. [13]

What is the clemency process?

The head of state automatically receives a report on each death-eligible case and can either commute the sentence to some other punishment, pardon the offender, or set the time and place of execution. The head of state can also grant an indefinite respite. [14]

References:

[1] Constitution of Malaysia, arts. 5(1), 119(3)(b), 1957.

[2] Constitution of Malaysia, art. 76(1)(a), 1957.

[3] Constitution of Malaysia, art. 169(b), 1957.

[4] Penal Code of Malaysia (Amendment) (Amendment) Act, art. 2, 2007.

[5] David T. Johnson & Franklin E. Zimring, The Next Frontier: National Development, Political Change, and the Death Penalty in Asia, p. 312, Oxford University Press, 2009.

Death Penalty In Practice

Are there any known foreign nationals currently under sentence of death?

Yes. As of May, 2010, there are Filipinos, Indonesians, a Liberian, and other nationalities under sentence of death in Malaysia. [1] Confirmed sources indicate that migrant workers, predominantly Indonesian, in Malaysia are at particular risk of death sentences for drug-related crimes. [2]

What are the nationalities of the known foreign nationals on death row?

Death row in Malaysia includes Indonesians, Filipinos, 1 Liberian, and may also include Thai, Singaporean, Chinese, and Nigerian individuals. [3]

One potential area for research regarding the racial and ethnic composition of death row in Malaysia involves the interaction of drug trafficking and migrant workers. Migrant workers travel from Indonesia to Malaysia, only to find that work opportunities in Malaysia are limited. These individuals sometimes turn to limited drug trafficking as a means of raising capital to return to Indonesia. When they are caught, they face the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking. [6]

Are there lawyers available for indigent defendants facing capital murder trials?

Defendants facing capital charges in Malaysia have the right to an attorney at the public expense. [7] It is unclear that, in practice, defendants are always able to exercise this right. [8]

Are there lawyers available for indigent prisoners on appeal?

Defendants facing capital charges in Malaysia have the right to an attorney at the public expense. [9] It is unclear that, in practice, defendants are always able to exercise this right. [10]

Comments on Quality of Legal Representation

It is unclear that capital defendants are always able to obtain representation. [11] Some reports indicate that Malaysia’s government may intervene to discourage effective representation in certain cases. [12] Finally, Malaysia inhibits the defendant’s access to police evidence, which likely undermines an attorney’s ability to represent a client effectively. [13]

Other Comments on Criminal Justice System

Malaysia prosecutes a number of migrant workers from Indonesia, who may be unlikely to speak the language or understand their rights in Malaysia, for drug-related crimes carrying the mandatory death penalty. [14] Reports of arbitrary detention, lengthy detention, police brutality and torture suggest coercive techniques that may undermine the legitimacy of capital convictions in Malaysia. [15]

Following an appointment-fixing scandal, there are serious questions concerning corruption in the judiciary and the independence of the judiciary. [16]

Decisions of International Human Rights Bodies

Decisions of Human Rights Committee

The Committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child indicated that Malaysia should eliminate the death penalty for persons under the age of 18 at the time of the offense, an issue Malaysia had already addressed (or has since addressed by amendment to the underlying law). [1]

Decisions of Other Human Rights Bodies

UN reports indicate that individuals held under Malaysia’s Internal Security Act, under which death-eligible offenses apply, are subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, likely as part of coercive interrogation techniques. [2] In some cases, arbitrary detention was used to inhibit the work of human rights defenders. [3]

A UN report expressed concern over the mandatory death penalty, availability of pardons, and availability of data on death row prisoners. [4]

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Now, the ball is at Malaysia's court when another country has appealed for the life of its 2 citizens, who faces the death penalty.

We remember Sabahan Yong Vui Kong(now facing the death penalty in Singapore), Malaysian Ong Kim Fatt (who is facing the death penalty in China) and Umi Azlim Mohamad Lazim (who was facing the death penalty in China which was then commuted to life)...

Malaysia really must abolish the death penalty. The risk that an innocent person (or one that does not deserve death like 'drug mules') will be killed by the State is one reason why the death penalty be abolished. The state of our criminal justice system, and the possibility of 'mistakes'/or lack of effort in defending by lawyers by reason of inadequacies or maybe even 'legal fees' is just another reason for abolition.

Mandatory death penalty or sentences should be removed from our laws returning the power and discretion to judges to decide on sentences that they deem fit. Now, judges just have no choice and this is so wrong. Parliament/Legislative have taken what should really be a power that should be vested in the Judiciary.

Georgia asks Malaysia not to apply death penalty to two Georgian women

Apr 07 2011, 23:40

On April 6, the General Prosecutor's Office of Georgia sent a letter to law enforcement bodies of Malaysia on the case of the Georgian citizens - Babutsa Gordadze and Daredzhan Kokhtashvili - accused in this country of drug trafficking, asking them to change their penalty to long-term imprisonment instead of death penalty.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 4 inspectors accused one of them, Babutsa Gordadze, under the article of "drug trafficking". The second woman - Daredzhan Kokhtashvili - was not charge charged, pending clarification of the circumstances. The hearing of Babutsa Gordadze's case will take place on April 11.

"We gave more information on this case to the Malaysian party. We are running a political dialogue with Malaysia trying to save the lives of our citizens, either by pardon or by means of other fair mechanisms," the "News-Georgia" quotes Sakvarelidze's words.

The official Tbilisi is also interested in custody conditions of the Georgian women and the stage of litigation, the "Georgia Online" reports.

The Foreign Ministry has already sent a clemency appeal for Malaysian Ong Kim Fatt who is on death row in China for drug trafficking, said its Deputy Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong.

Ong is the first one to face the death sentence for a drug offence in China since World War II.

“We have sent a letter to our Chinese counterpart appealing for Ong’s death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment,” Lee said in a press conference at Wisma MCA on Thursday.

He added that the Malaysian Embassy there has also been appealing to the Chinese court regarding this matter.

“We want to remind all Malaysians to respect and abide by the laws of the countries they are travelling in,” he said.

Ong, 44, was found guilty of trafficking 13 packets of heroin weighing 1,480gm at the Xiamen Gao Qi International Airport on Sept 19, 2007.

Earlier last week, MCA Public Service and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong sought the Foreign Ministry’s help to lessen Ong’s predicament as the death sentence was the first one to be dealt out for a drug offence since World War II.

Ong was to have faced the firing squad in February but the execution was postponed to Apr 29 to fulfil his last wish of meeting his siblings.

MCA Bukit Bintang chairman Datuk Dr Lee Chong Meng, who was also at the press conference, said that he will be accompanying Ong’s brothers, Hock Hooi, 38, and Hock Kiang, 41, to China on Apr 27 to fulfil Ong’s last wish and hopefully get his clemency appeal approved.

Previously, Dr Lee managed to find Ong’s family members as they were coincidentally residing on the top floor of the building where his service centre in Chow Kit is located.

“I hope that Ong is given some leniency as I believe that he was used by a drug syndicate somewhere. He is not a smart man. He can be very naive,” Dr Lee said.

Dr Lee added that it was unlikely that Ong had had enough money to buy the heroin himself.

Meanwhile, Chong said that he had spoken to Interpol’s National Centre Bureau assistant director Supt Gan Tack Guan, who informed him that Interpol was still probing into the matter.

DEATH PENALTY: Beijing Sentence Shakes Malaysia's Own PolicyBy Baradan KuppusamyKUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 (IPS) - Malaysia's unshakable stand on the death penalty appears to be wavering as a country unites in sympathy and outrage over the plight of a young Malay woman sentenced to death in China for allegedly acting as a drug courier. Umi Azlim Mohamad Lazim, 24, a university science graduate from a poor Malay family of rice farmers, admitted to having 2.9 kilograms in her luggage when she was arrested at Shantou airport last January.She told a court in southeast China during her trial in May 2007, that she was travelling for a highly-paid job she secured over the internet. But she was unaware what was in the bag she was carrying for a Nigerian friend. The judge rejected her explanation and sentenced her to death, the usual sentence for such an offence."She thought she was carrying important corporate documents," her mother, Umi Ibrahim, told IPS. "We cry everyday ... what can we do? We want her to live not die."Most Malaysians appear to share the mother's anguish.The case is fast-developing into an emotive national issue. Politicians have set aside their differences to halt Lazim's execution. The ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and its rival the Islamic fundamentalist Pan Malaysian Islamic Party are even vying in their efforts.Both are collecting money for the family, working to arrange family visits and promising they will save Lazim from execution.The government is at a distinct disadvantage in the race to save Lazim. Malaysia's punishment for drug-related crimes is as harsh, if not harsher, than most other countries. The government supports the death penalty."Malaysia has suddenly woken up to the fact that ordinary Malaysians are now caught in the same death-penalty trap that we put others in," Nagarajan Surendran, a human rights lawyer and executive co-director of Malaysians Against the Death Penalty, a NGO campaigning against capital punishment, told IPS. Trafficking in more than 200 grams of dangerous drugs carries a death sentence."Today there are about 300 people on death row here, mostly for drug offences," Surendran said. Many of the 359 people executed from 1980 to 2001 had been sentenced for drug offences.Much national outrage is today focused on how the Chinese might eventually end Lazim's life, although her sentence has been suspended for two years on humanitarian grounds. "People are shot in their heads with rifles. It is a horrific way for a young girl to die," said Surendran, expressing a widely-expressed view.The case has also suddenly brought to public attention a number of others. There are some 30 young Malaysian women either sentenced or awaiting trial for drug-related offences in more than a dozen countries besides China, including Japan, Brazil and Peru. Several could be sentenced to death.Many are university graduates lured by offers of high salaries and opportunities to travel. Behind the tempting offers are shady front companies run by international drug cartels."The syndicates are willing to throw money at the unsuspecting girls before they make their moves," federal narcotics department director Bakri Zinin told local newspapers in November.The problem of young Malaysians caught ferrying drugs is already posing a major problem for the foreign ministry. Diplomats are kept busy finding defence lawyers, monitoring trails and making regular health and welfare checks on the young women."Their fate is a major embarrassment to the government," said Ramu Annamalai Kandasamy, a human rights lawyer representing many such clients and death-row inmates, told IPS. "The government has to come up with a firm policy on how to help the victims on death-row in far off countries."Surendran's proposal is for Malaysia to introduce an immediate moratorium on executions. This would lift the threat of execution of foreigners on Malaysian soil. Other countries would be likely to respond in kind."Malaysia would get a more sympathetic hearing if it imposed a moratorium. One good turn deserves another," he argues."People would understand," he adds, suggesting that the public would agree that a change in policy over the death penalty was the most diplomatically effective way of saving the lives of condemned Malaysians on foreign death-rows.A moratorium could also help secure the reduction in other harsh sentences imposed on Malaysians by foreign courts, diplomatic sources say. Peru was ready to reduce sentences of up to 20 years imposed on Malaysians in return for the sparing five of its nationals on death-row in Malaysia, they add.Many opposition politicians would support a moratorium, or even total abolition, if it could save the lives of Malaysians like Lazim."These girls made a mistake in their youth. They deserve to live, not to be killed so cruelly. Imagine the pain their loved ones are going through," said opposition lawmaker Teresa Kok."If Malaysia abolishes the death sentence it can stand on a higher moral ground and ask foreign countries to spare the hangman's noose."It is time Malaysia complied with international standards," she added, citing the U.N. General Assembly resolution last December calling for a moratorium on executions. The resolution urged all states that still maintain the death penalty "to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty". (END/2008)

Umi Azlim's life term a relief for family

Sat, Oct 11, 2008
The Star

PASIR PUTIH, Malaysia: The news that her death sentence had been commuted to a life term helped to mend a rift in the family of Umi Azlim Mohamad Lazim, the Kelantanese girl languishing in a Chinese prison after being found guilty of drug trafficking.

Umi Azlim's father and siblings had been living in sadness since she was caught and sentenced to death last year. To add to their misery, their mother Umi Slaia Ibrahim died of throat cancer in May.

Their father's remarriage in August did not lift their gloom. Instead, it created a rift between him and Umi Azlim's three younger siblings, who preferred to stay with their grandparents.

<a target="_blank" href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh%3Dv8/3ae9/3/0/%2a/z%3B239772282%3B0-0%3B1%3B39581935%3B4307-300/250%3B41555006/41572793/1%3B%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp://www.etrebon.com/shop-here/roast-on-demand/"><img src="http://s0.2mdn.net/2389670/Boncafe_a16409_2011apr05_300x250_A1.jpg" border="0" alt="" ></a> However, all was forgiven when they received the good news that Umi Azlim's death sentence had been commuted to a life term by the Guangzhou High Court last week.

"I am not the demonstrative type and I never show my emotions in front of my children. But when I told my children about their eldest sister, I cried and they cried too. We then hugged each other.

"We love Kak Long (Umi Azlim's pet name) and as long as she is alive, we still have hope," said a relieved Mohamad Lazim Jusoh at his house in Taman Desa Anda Cherang Tuli here yesterday.

The 52-year-old car mechanic admitted that the news had brought the family closer after the dark times they had been through.

Mohamad Lazim said he was initially sceptical when he received a telephone call from a reporter informing him of the news.

But he was overjoyed when he received confirmation from a state government officer in charge of a fund which was set up to help Umi Azlim fight her case.

"I could not believe the news at first as I thought that the death sentence was final and that my daughter would die there.

"When the officer confirmed the news, I felt like screaming with joy but I remained composed until I got home."

Apart from Umi Azlim, Mohamad Lazim has three other children, twins Umi Azmira and Umi Azuraiha, both 17, and Mohd Azlimuslim, 11.

Mohamad Lazim's only regret was that his late wife was unable to share in the good news.

"She died thinking that her eldest child would be sentenced to death in China.

"My only wish now is to see her. I hope the authorities will help us."

Unlike previous interviews where family members were shy, sad and withdrawn, yesterday they were chatty, upbeat and cheerful.

Umi Azmira described the news as the best Hari Raya gift the family had received.

"We spent a quiet and sad Hari Raya and we badly missed Kak Long and emak (mother). We spent it visiting our mother's grave and we were in no mood to visit our relatives and friends.

"I did not want to visit them as I couldn't face the questions and the looks of sympathy.
"I preferred to stay and study for my examination," said Umi Azmira, who together with her twin sister, will sit the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) soon.

Umi Azlim, a Universiti Malaysia Sabah honours student, was sentenced to death after 2kg of heroin was found in her luggage when she arrived in Shantou last year.

She was believed to have been duped into becoming a drug mule for a syndicate here.

On 18 December 2007, the UN General Assembly endorsed a resolution calling for "a moratorium on executions" by an overwhelming majority: 104 votes in favour, 54 against and 29 abstentions. - RESOLUTION 62/149

On 18 December 2008, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a second resolution calling for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. 106 countries voted in favour of the draft resolution, 46 voted against and 34 abstained.

22/12/2010, the United Nations General Assembly 3rd resolution in favour of a universal moratorium on the death penalty : 108 countries voted in favour, with 41 against and 36 abstentions.

Radio Interviews & VDOs

BFM Radio (13/10/2011) - Talking with Charles Hector and Nico Tuijn about the death penaltyDeath in Dilemma - The Final Curtain (produced by the Malaysian Bar), about 25 minuted, is shown in the first part of this VDO

MADPET (Malaysian Against Death Penalty and Torture)

MADPET is a movement for the abolition of death penalty and torture, and it is also been involved in issues of administration of justice, death in custody, freedom of expression, opposing abuse of power and wrongdoings by the police, prison authorities and other enforment authorities, animal rights, rights of minority groups, housing rights, rights of the disabled, concerns in the criminal justice system. MADPET is for the promotion of human rights, human freedoms and justice in Malaysia and in our world.